


tired and gone, just speechless

by lisa6



Series: Pynch, from the outside. [2]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, POV Outsider, Robert Parrish is an asshole, Victim Blaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-09-01 00:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20248981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisa6/pseuds/lisa6
Summary: Robert Parrish runs into his son and his boyfriend.





	tired and gone, just speechless

**Author's Note:**

> Robert Parrish is an asshole and I am a fan of Adam growing up to the point where it doesn't matter so much anymore. 
> 
> This will have a Part 2 where there’ll be more dialogue between all of the characters. I just like the idea of Adam giving his father the cold shoulder. Still I’m all for aloof power couple Pynch so expect that from my following works!

The Parrish home was a yellowing trailer nestled between many others of its kind and Henrietta’s rolling hills. A pine forest separated the trailer park’s dirt roads and clothesline ropes from quaint little shops and expensive private schools. The trees were tall enough to hide the sun in the mornings, but as soon as the sun rose, their shadows shrank, and the trailer park was at the relentless sun’s mercy.

It was one of many mobile homes, and it had many stories to tell; recurring stories of missed opportunities and empty bank accounts, as well as recent stories of horrible fathers, farouche mothers and lost sons, spilled liquor and heavy fists.

Robert Parrish had bought it from what little money he had — earned and sponged — and moved into it with his wife, a woman several years younger than him, and his unborn son that had, at the time and only then, not yet known cruelty. 

In all of the years Robert and Lynn had lived in Henrietta’s trailer park, nothing had changed. There were still ratty U.S. flags fluttering in the wind and hanging from plastic window sills, decrepit cars and motorcycles with dust dourly clinging to their bodies, sunken-faced people looking for ways to wangle a fresh high. It smelled like dry grass, the empty beer bottles scattered all over the area, and sweaty clothes blackened with cigarette smoke.

‘Robert,’ Lynn said, voice soft enough to keep it from worsening his hangover, ‘it’s three in the afternoon. You promised Nancy you’d look at her fridge, and go do the grocery shopping.’ 

Robert groaned. The air in the trailer was so stuffy he’d gotten a throat ache during the night. ‘Send her Adam.’

There was an ugly pause. He kept his eyes shut, but knew from the shaky breath Lynn let out that she was screwing her face up in that way. ‘Adam hasn’t been here in a long time, Robert.’ 

Right.

Robert laughed. Images of a tiring trial flashed somewhere before his eyes, his wretched son in pathetic secondhand clothes stone-faced watching the arrogant pricks he called his friends walk up to the judge with amiable faces and charming smiles. Another image: Adam’s things gone from the trailer. Another: Adam’s face painted black and blue. Robert’s hand itched. 

‘That little prick,’ he groaned as he pushed himself up from the bed and wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist. ‘Want to make another kid? Maybe this one won’t be a fucking disgrace if you do your job right this time around.’

Lynn’s eyes were focused on his chest.

‘You know, if you hadn’t spoiled him so damn much…’

‘I know.’

Robert raised his eyebrows. ‘You know?’

Lynn corrected herself, ‘I’m sorry. I was wrong.’

‘You were young? So was I, and I didn’t turn him into an ungrateful little shit.’

‘No, I was _wrong_.’ She covered his hands with his. ‘That’s what I said.’

‘Well, whatever. Get me a beer while I shower,’ he said, reaching up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. ‘You should get a haircut if you want me to stay interested. Your hair looks like shit.’

***

Robert Parrish‘s truck groaned as he slammed its door shut. Even in the evening, August tasted thick and dry on his tongue, and Robert longed for a cool bottle of beer and a pack of cigarettes to go with it.

He reached into his jeans pocket; dollar bills, softened by use, scratched his fingers. In the parking spot next to his, a sleek charcoal BMW sat, the sharp, silvery headlights still on and casting the ancient convenience store’s chipped yellowing rendering in unnaturally bright light. Its impeccable condition, the expensive rims, the aggressive design that promised lots of horsepower and claimed a hefty price tag — all of that mocked the few dollars Robert had with him, and Robert huffed before turning away and making his way into the store.

It was empty inside apart from the clerk sitting behind the counter — a young man who, at the sound of the little bell announcing Robert’s entry, merely glanced up from his gossip magazine long enough to decide Robert was not as interesting as the article about whatever celebrity scandal he was reading — and an elderly woman.

Robert turned the corner into one of the few isles to look for canned ravioli as he noticed one other guy in the store, tall and pale, standing behind a cardboard stand-up. He had his back turned to Robert and was looking down at something, but his buzz cut and black leather jacket looked distinctly familiar.

Robert continued his search down the aisle, grabbed two cans of pasta once he’d made his find, and then headed straight for the fridges full of cool beverages.

Just as he’d taken a sixpack of beer and stuck it under his arm, an all too familiar laugh rang in his ears — male, the kind of voice that was both deep and not. To anyone else it might’ve sounded pleasant, attractive. The kind of voice that drew you in, enticing you into wanting more. To Robert, all it did was make the hairs on his arms stand up, the white-hot rage he carried with him bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. 

He turned around.

Adam, his wayward, arrogant, selfish son, had suddenly appeared standing in front of the leather-jacketed guy, laughing at something he said. Now, from Robert’s new vantage point, he could see both of their profiles and, much to Robert’s disgust, the guy Adam was with was familiar, too. The Lynch boy was sharp and angular where Adam was bird-boned and soft, but even in his light blue denim jacket and off-white sweater, there was no missing the alertness in Adam’s eyes, the shrewd curve of his smile, the false security caused by his deep blue eyes or the gentle curve of his nose. 

Robert felt hot all over as he watched Adam reach up to brush the tips of his fingers along Lynch’s defined jawline before pressing the flat of his palm to his nape, squeezing gently. Where they were standing — hidden behind the stand-up and the shelves — Robert supposed nobody but him could see them. Adam leaned closer, let his hand move from Lynch’s neck to his shoulder to pull him close against his body. His lips were moving close to his ear, whispering something that had Lynch’s pale skin flush and the fingers of his free hand curl around Adam’s hip underneath the layers of his jacket and sweater.

It was disturbingly intimate, and Robert felt like throwing up when Adam leaned back just enough to ghost his lips along Lynch’s cheek, then press them to his lips in a swift, soft kiss that, afterwards, had Lynch smirking.

Adam had grown into his body; he’d filled out, gained more muscle and looked a thousand times stronger than the last time Robert had seen him. It had been a couple years since he’d so cowardly set Lynch on his own father and then moved out of the trailer, and a few years since he’d left Henrietta. He must’ve been — what, twenty-four now? Or maybe twenty-five? Robert didn’t know, and he didn’t really care. Adam had never called, never written a letter or sent a bit of money to help support his family; his father, who’d always taken care of him, and his mother, who’d loved him with every fiber of her being.

Ungrateful, Robert thought, Adam’d always been ungrateful. Even his buddies at work had said that after Robert had told him of the ways his son liked to spend his money — a fucking private school full of the kind of pretentious, spoiled rats that Adam wanted to be — or hide it in boxes underneath the bed in the home that Robert paid for.

Robert didn’t know what Adam was doing now or where he’d gone after graduating from his disgusting school, if he was still in college or had dropped out like his parents had warned him he would. If he regretted not listening to his parents now. If he regretted not learning a useful job, like becoming a mechanic like Boyd or work in construction like his father. How much money Adam earned, and how much money he could’ve given his parents, but selfishly refused to. The wristwatch Adam wore definitely meant he was making enough money to keep up with his fucking boyfriend; Robert felt like gagging at the thought, and he really, really hoped that no one but him ever saw his disgrace of a son close to another guy the way he was right now.

Robert watched as Adam lifted his hand to fish a shiny black credit card out of his jacket’s pocket, nodding in the general direction of the counter and bumping his shoulder against Lynch’s in passing.

Lynch grinned, quick and blinding, before he followed after Adam like he never did anything contrary; his eyes, a cruel icy blue, were fixed on Adam’s back. It was while Adam paid — thoughtlessly swiping his credit card like he had nothing to be worried about — that Lynch’s gaze swept across the store and caught on Robert.

Lynch stiffened immediately, broadening shoulders pressing against Adam’s and fists that Robert was way too familiar with clenching by his sides. Apparently that was enough for Adam to realize that something had happened because, as he was pocketing his credit card, he glanced up.

Whatever Robert had expected his reaction to seeing him again had been, this was not it; Adam’s stare was unsettling in its coldness and… _otherness_, turning even more chilling when he saw the sixpack Robert was holding, but it only lasted for a second. He was already turning around again to pick up his purchases and leaning in to quietly say something to Lynch so quickly that Robert almost doubted he had even been registered.

This time, it took Lynch a few moments longer before he made to follow after Adam, his appallingly frosty gaze still locked on Robert.

The little bell tinkled again once Adam and Lynch had left the store, and the charcoal BMW’s lights flashed orange as the car was unlocked. Robert saw the twinkling of its keys as they were tossed through the air to Adam, who caught them effortlessly and then slid into the driver’s seat. The engine growled as the car was started, headlights turning brighter and sharper as they automatically adjusted to the darkness. Robert shook with envy and fury, but couldn’t do anything other than listen to the car accelerating when it drove off the parking lot.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you thought! :)


End file.
